Todd - 15 May 2006 12:06 PM
Adirondackwoodburner - 08 May 2006 03:53 PM
Well, I have 3 cord of Hard Maple and White Oak split right now, been split for two weeks..Once stacked, I should be good for burn come September/October?
Hard to say for sure, but if its in a open area that gets lots of sun, wind, and covered from the weather it might be ready by Oct. Maybe try building a Holz Haufen? One thread stated 3 month drying time for a HH. Another trick for fast drying is smaller splits.
Faster drying, but also faster burning, so I’m sure there is a happy medium. I did the small splits with the Oak last year, and It really wasn’t ready to burn this year. I cut it in about late August and split quite small so it would dry. By the time March/april rolled around, it was my only pile left and I started burning some, and it was marginal. Really needed another 4-6 months in my opinion. The tree had been dead for about a year and a half, but was pretty wet inside still.
In general I now cut splits a lot larger so that I get better burn times out of them. Less splitting also, but I’m sure it will take longer to dry.
